Petition to save Wensum Lodge launched by Greens
Green Party councillors have called for Norfolk residents to help in a campaign to save a vital adult learning centre in the King Street area of Norwich.
Norfolk County Council has today announced it is preparing to withdraw adult learning courses and is considering the future use and ownership of the Wensum Lodge site. The site includes a historic set of buildings on King Street dating back to the 12th century and has been used as a centre of adult learning for over 40 years. It remains hugely popular with residents across the city.
In 2019, before the Covid pandemic, Norfolk County Council unveiled proposals to transform Wensum Lodge into a creative hub, commissioning Hudson Architects. Plans were made for upgraded rooms for adult education courses, along with rental space for start-up creative and arts organisations to bring in money to help pay the centre’s running costs. The vision included a café and business support to help start-up companies.
Green councillors say that selling off Wensum Lodge is a short-sighted and regressive step and they are calling on the county council to revive the creative hub scheme. The selling off could undo years of effort by the local community to build up a space that is well-used and well-loved.
Green Party councillors are calling for the county council to reconsider its decision. Green councillors will work with local community groups to have the site listed as an asset of community value by Norwich City Council who also own the Grade 1 listed Music House also located at Wensum Lodge. This would mean that the owner would have to inform the council if they wanted to sell the property. The community would then be given a period of time to decide and prepare a bid for the asset.
Green councillor Ben Price said, “Wensum Lodge is an amazing hub of adult learning, sports activities and social events in the heart of the cultural quarter of the city. It has so much potential, and the local community were very excited at the creative hub proposal. Friday’s announcement from the county council is devastating news. The county council’s programme of selling off community assets like Wensum Lodge is incredibly short-sighted. The damage it will cause to the local community and the lost opportunity to help grow the economic and cultural offering in Norwich is incalculable.
“We can still save Wensum Lodge. Green councillors are urging people to sign the petition to retain Wensum Lodge as an creative hub and adult learning centre and also to support local community groups in their application to make the site an Asset of Community Value so that it can continue to benefit local people and the city for years to come.”
Notes:
The petition to save Wensum Lodge can be found here: Saving Wensum Lodge to be a Creative Hub (actionnetwork.org)
Photo: Councillor Ben Price at Wensum Lodge (credit: Olly Price)